Navy SEAL Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat

The Navy SEAL teams' elite K9 warriors do it all - from detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys. These powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and most highly skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them. This is the tale of how Ritland discovered his passion and grew up to train these elite dogs. After becoming a SEAL, he was on combat deployment in Iraq when he saw a military working dog in action, and he instantly knew he'd found his true calling.

Team Dog: How to Train Your Dog - the Navy SEAL Way

In Team Dog, Mike taps into fifteen years' worth of experience and shares, in accessible and direct language, the science behind the importance of gaining a dog's trust. He also offers invaluable steps for achieving any level of obedience. His unique approach incorporates entertaining examples and anecdotes from his work with dogs on and off the battlefield and tips from the Navy SEAL guidebook.

The Killing School: Inside the World's Deadliest Sniper Program

In this revealing new audiobook, Webb takes listeners through every aspect of this training, describing how Spec Ops snipers are taught each dimension of their art. Trainees learn to utilize every edge possible to make their shot - from studying crosswinds, barometric pressure, latitude, and even the rotation of the Earth, to becoming ballistic experts. But marksmanship is only one aspect of the training. Each SEAL's endurance, stealth, and mental and physical stamina are tested and pushed to the breaking point.

Among Heroes: A U.S. Navy SEAL's True Story of Friendship, Heroism, and the Ultimate Sacrifice

From Brandon Webb, Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times best-selling author, comes his account of the eight friends and fellow SEALs who made the ultimate sacrifice. As a Navy SEAL, Webb rose to the top of the world's most elite sniper corps, experiencing years of punishing training and combat missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Along the way, Webb served beside, trained, and supported men he came to know not just as fellow warriors, but as friends and, eventually, as heroes.

The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper Corps and How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen

Brandon Webb's experiences in the world's most elite sniper corps are the stuff of legend. From his grueling years of training in Naval Special Operations to his combat tours in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan, The Red Circle provides a rare and riveting look at the inner workings of the U.S. military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist. Yet it is Webb's distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy "sniper cell" that makes his story so compelling.

The Operator: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama Bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior

Stirringly evocative, thought provoking, and often jaw dropping, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career that included his involvement in attempts to rescue "Lone Survivor" Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips and culminated in those famous three shots that dispatched the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden.

Killer Elite: Completely Revised and Updated: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team

A top-secret US Army Special Operations unit has been running covert missions all over the world, from leading death squads to the hideout of drug baron Pablo Escobar to capturing Saddam Hussein and, in one of the greatest special operations missions of all time, helping to track down al-Qa'eda leader Osama bin Laden. "The Activity," as it became known to insiders, has achieved near-mythical status, even among the world's Special Operations elite.

The Last Punisher: A SEAL Team Three Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi

The Last Punisher is a bold, no-holds-barred first-person account of the Iraq War. With wry humor and moving testimony, Kevin Lacz tells the story of his tour in Iraq with SEAL Team Three, the warrior elite of the navy. This legendary unit, known as The Punishers, included Chris Kyle (American Sniper), Mike Monsoor, Ryan Job, and Marc Lee. These brave men were instrumental in securing the key locations in the pivotal 2006 Battle of Ramadi, told with stunning detail in this book.

Service: A Navy SEAL at War

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell returned from his star-crossed mission in Afghanistan with his bones shattered and his heart broken. So many had given their lives to save him-and he would have readily done the same for them. As he recuperated, he wondered why he and others, from America's founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything-including themselves-for the sake of family, nation, and freedom.

Roberts Ridge: A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan

For the U.S. Navy's elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: to take control of a towering, 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar, a key post in their plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan.

The Ranger Way: Living the Code on and off the Battlefield

Thousands of people have heard Kris "Tanto" Paronto speak about his experiences in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. But before he was a security contractor, Tanto was a US Army Ranger from Second Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment. Rangers are trained to lead by being pushed to their physical and mental limits so that they can perform against impossible odds in punishing situations. In The Ranger Way, Tanto shares stories from his training experiences that played a role in his team's heroic response in Benghazi.

Battle Ready: Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic

As A SEAL and combat medic, Mark served his country with valorous distinction for almost 25 years and survived some of the most dangerous combat actions imaginable. From the rigors of BUD/S training to the horrors of the battlefield, Battle Ready dramatically immerses the listener in the unique life of the elite warrior-medic who advances into combat with life-saving equipment in one hand and life-taking weapons in the other. It is also an uplifting human story that reveals how a young Hispanic American bootstrapped himself out of a life that promised a dead-end future by enlisting in the military.

No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy SEAL

The second book by former Navy SEAL Mark Owen, following his multimillion-copy classic about the bin Laden mission No Easy Day, in which he tells the stories from his career that were most personal to him and that made him the operator and the person he is today.

Never Quit: From Alaskan Wilderness Rescues to Afghanistan Firefights as an Elite Special Ops PJ

"That Others May Live" is a mantra that defines the fearless men of Alaska's 212th Pararescue Unit, the PJs, one of the most elite military forces on the planet. Whether they are rescuing citizens injured and freezing in the Alaskan wilderness or saving wounded Rangers and SEALs in blazing firefights at war, the PJs are the least known and most highly trained of America's warriors. Never Quit is the true story of how Jimmy Settle, an Alaskan shoe-store clerk, became a Special Forces Operator and war hero.

Way of the Reaper: My Greatest Untold Missions and the Art of Being a Sniper

Way of the Reaper is a step-by-step accounting of how a sniper works, through the lens of Irving's 10 most significant kills - none of which have been told before. Each mission is an in-depth look at a new element of eliminating the enemy, from intel to luck, recon to weaponry. Told in a thrilling narrative, this is also a heart-pounding true story of some of the Reaper's boldest missions, including the longest shot of his military career on a human target of over half a mile.

Men in Green Faces: A Novel of U.S. Navy SEALs

Gene Wentz's Men in Green Faces is the classic novel of Vietnam that inspired a generation of SEALs. Here is the story of a good soldier trained to be part of an elite team of warriors - and of the killing grounds where he was forever changed. Gene Michaels carries an M-60, 800 rounds, and a Bible. The ultimate SEAL, he also carries a murderous grudge against a bloodthirsty colonel who was once one of their own.

The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers

In the best-selling tradition of American Sniper and Shooter, Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labeled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian.

No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan

In a remote enemy-held valley in Afghanistan, a Special Forces team planned to scale a steep mountain to surprise and capture a terrorist leader. But before they found the target, the target found them. The team was caught in a deadly ambush that threatened not only their lives but the entire mission. The elite soldiers fought huddled for hours on a small rock ledge as rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-gun fire rained down on them.

Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog

Filled with harrowing tales of knife-edge bomb-detection work, including an extraordinary baptism by fire, Sergeant Rex is a heart-pounding account of how an unbreakable human-canine bond helped Mike and Rex to stay focused on their mission and save countless lives.

Worth Dying For: A Navy Seal's Call to a Nation

In a fast-paced and action-packed narrative, Navy SEAL commander Rorke Denver tackles the questions that have emerged about America's past decade at war - from what makes a hero to why we fight and what it does to us. Heroes are not always the guys who jump on grenades. Sometimes, they are the snipers who decide to hold their fire, the wounded operators who find fresh ways to contribute, or the wives who keep the families together back home.

The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Forged a New Afghanistan

The Only Thing Worth Dying For chronicles the most important mission in the early days of the Global War on Terror, when the men on the ground knew little about the enemy - and their commanders in Washington knew even less. With unprecedented access to surviving members of ODA 574, key war planners, and Karzai himself, award-winning author Eric Blehm cuts through the noise of politicians and high-level military officials to narrate, for the first time, a story of uncommon bravery and terrible sacrifice.

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

In 2009 Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after Keating's construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: It was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.

The unforgiving Afghan winter settled upon the 22 men of Marine Special Operations Team 8222, call sign Dagger 22, in the remote and hostile river valley of Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters in the region would have liked nothing more than to once again go dormant and rest until the new spring fighting season began. No chance of that - this winter would be different.

Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds

Southern Afghanistan was slipping away. That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his third tour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies were infiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATO coalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in its history. The battlefield was the Panjwayi Valley, a densely packed warren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers.

Publisher's Summary

As a SEAL on combat deployment in Iraq, Mike Ritland saw a military working dog in action and instantly knew he found his true calling. While the SEAL teams had used dogs in the past, they never had dogs trained specifically by SEALs, for SEALs. To fill this void, Ritland started his own company after he retired, training and supplying dogs for the West Coast SEAL teams. He knew that less than 1% of all working dogs had what it takes to contribute to the success of our nation’s elite combat units.

He searched the globe for animals who fit this specific profile. These specialized canines had to pass rigorous selection tests before their serious training could begin. The results were a revelation: highly trained working dogs capable of handling both detection and apprehension work in the most extreme environments and the tensest of battlefield conditions. Though fiercely aggressive and athletic, these dogs develop a close bond with the handlers they work side by side with and the other team members. Truly integrating themselves into their units, these K9 warriors are much like their human counterparts - unwavering in their devotion to duty, strong enough and tough enough to take it to the enemy through pain, injury, or fear.

For the first time ever, listeners get an inside look at these elite K9 warriors - who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake saving countless lives asking for little in the way of reward. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and most highly skilled working animals on the planet.

This book is definitely worth every penny. It delivers a unique story that is both written and read very well. I'm really not sure why one of the other reviewers says this is a boring history book. There is some history in the book, but(as the author states) it really serves the listener, as to really understand what goes into the "making" of these dogs, you need to know some of "military-dog" related history. But this book is by no means only this(history). It delivers exactly what the title says, giving many different accounts/stories of the dogs and their SEAL handlers, both state side and down-range. And, just as the books title states, you also get some of the authors background along with detailed accounts of his training of the dogs as well as working them. The narrator of the book(Jeff Gurner) does a great job reading, putting just the right amount of emotion into it. Mr.Hurner has also clearly done his "homework", since he pronounces the military-terms correctly. I point this out because, most unfortunately other "Navy-Seal" book narrators have not. I'm specifically referring the pronunciation of BUDS, which for some reason always ends up getting pronounced incorrectly, like having each individual letter spelled out or a myriad of other incorrect ways.

So, I guess if I were "forced" to find fault in this book, this only thing I could say is that it's to short.

If you could sum up Trident K9 Warriors in three words, what would they be?

Paws, Teeth, Duty

Any additional comments?

I am sure this is a book many will not purchase unless they have a passion for working dogs and what they can do for us as humans. The stories in this book however, demonstrate how little we rely on what I would call a low tech solution to the problems we are facing today in modern warfare. K9's have a sense, we as humans have only begun to scratch the surface of what these animals can do. They protect us and lead us to safer environments through a growing need find peace in a difficult and challenging set of problems. These animals and trainers/handlers demonstrate how useful of a tool these animals are to the soldiers they support. This book is a great account of this low tech solution has been overlooked by our leaders to solve problems. These animals, when used in combination with technologies will help our soldiers and police officers to serve and protect us more in the future. This book is a great account of how these animals are used in conflicts today around the world.

What made the experience of listening to Trident K9 Warriors the most enjoyable?

The knowledge and thoughtfulness and attention to detail of the author.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Trident K9 Warriors?

Descriptions of some of the training the dogs go through. I didn't realize they do aerobics and lift weights (for lack of a better term) to build their endurance. Makes sense, I was just surprised to hear it.

Which scene was your favorite?

The MWD that chases down an Insurgent trying to get away on a moped.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

To me it was fascinating from cover to cover, but no, not all in one sitting. I like breaking it up.

Any additional comments?

If not the best book I've listened to it is certainly in my top 3. If you like dogs, and the military, this is your book. Most of it covers selection of the dogs, training them and what is expected of the handlers and team mates. The last 1/3 or so is stories about events that take place down range.

I've owned many different breeds of large dogs, and I thought I knew about training them, but this book was an eye opener on the abilities of dogs and how they're trained to go to war. Great read and I learned a lot.

I liked this book A LOT!! I have performance dogs and compete in Canine Nosework with them. This book goes into great detail on the training and working with scent detection dogs and it all makes great sense and confirms what I've been taught. LOVE the positive reinforcement training aspect too!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked how the main character explained in detail the training and how the dogs worked in the field.

Which scene was your favorite?

don't really have a favorite, but I really liked the funny scenarios.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

How the handler dealt with the dog who didn't have an IED to find for several days started to shutdown. I liked how he returned to several positive training moments to rejuvenate the dog's drive. Reminded me of working too many empty rooms for NW3 training.

Any additional comments?

I didn't know dogs worked with navy seals and I feel proud that they do.